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HAPPY NEW YEAR 2017
MY WISH FOR YOU-
IS THAT YOU WILL KNOW LOVE, LOVE OF SELF MOST OF ALL.
I WISH YOU HAPPINESS, PERFECT HEALTH, PROSPERITY AND ABUNDANCE.
MY WISH FOR US IS THAT WE WILL-
STOP FOR A WHILE TO SMELL THE SWEETNESS OF NATURE
AND SPEND THE TIME TO TASTE AND SAVOUR GOOD FOOD
LET’S TALK LESS AND LISTEN EVEN TO THE SILENCE
TO SEE NOT ONLY WITH OUR EYES BUT WITH TRUE HEARTS
AND REACH OUT EVERY DAY TO TOUCH SOMEONE, ANYONE….
Photo courtesy of Chance Agrella and copyright Free Range Stock, http://www.freerangestock.com”
Happy Holidays
It does not matter whether you believe in Christmas or not.
This is a time of year when there is a worldwide movement focused on giving, loving, sharing, uniting.
It is not just about family, there are a lot of people reaching out to the homeless, the incarcerated, the children in institutions/Homes, those on the street, Service personnel away on duty, the elderly living alone, families in need.
This energy is so strong, but let us all join and do our part to make it even greater, so great it will be strong enough to create something wonderful.
Shattered glasses wishes for you a Happy Holiday, a Merry Christmas, a Peaceful Season.
Photo courtesy of Raina granger and copyright Free Range Stock, www.freerangestock.com
THE INTRUDER
(A tribute to my dear friend)
A beautiful flower in a garden grows, its colours so brilliant and bright
Its petals delicate and unique, to behold is a wonderful sight
And it’s scent, so sweet and fragrant too
Mingled with natures drops of dew
Among the myriad flowers and plants around
Your grace and beauty was renowned
I watched that flower as it blossomed and grew
And with every day that I watched I knew
That this wonder I had the pleasure to behold
Was a treasure more precious than silver than gold
To know that I get to witness the wonder of you
Is more than an honour it’s a dream come true
Then when that stranger passed your way
Oh, it was a sad and grey and gloomy day
I saw as it held your petal in its grasp
Trying to steal your beauty, and from the pain you gasped
‘Intruder you have gone too far’ I said, do you know what you have done?
You’ve touched the giver of Life of Love, your touch has dimmed the sun
The intruder was given a name, but an enigma it remains
It was talked about and plans were made, in various campaigns
Standing tall and shining brighter, the other flowers in fear,
Hoped their glow would stop the intruder, from ever coming near
But one by one it stole their beauty, before some could even bloom
Touched by the intruder, the givers of life, of love, lost their perfume
Then the earth rose up, shaking and in a rage
Like iron it crushed the intruder as it rampaged
The Waters came bursting and the cleansing began
Washing the poison that came from that hand
Then strong and tall your life returned to you
Shimmering and shining your beauty anew
Stripped of a name so no power remained
The intruder was defeated bound and chained
No longer would the flowers be touched and stained
Not by some illusion that couldn’t be explained
There were no whispers its name would never be said
The intruder that once stole beauty was now dead
©2016 Elera McIntosh
Photo courtesy of Merelize and copyright Free Range Stock, www.freerangestock.com”
I WILL
Today I will be kind and judgement free
Today there will be beauty in all I see
Today I will hug myself and love me for a while
Today I will remind myself of anything that makes me smile
Today I will laugh at every chance I find
Today I will be of a grateful heart and a sound mind
Today I will find the beauty in everything and everyone
Today I will see no good, bad, right no wrong
Today I will see the challenges in my life and let them go
Today I will see the thoughts of lack but I will say no
Today I will focus on thoughts of joy and prosperity
Today I will give thanks for good health and clarity
Today I will recognise my strengths and embrace them all
Today I will pick a task, and humbly answer to my call
Today I will reach out and serve someone in need
Today I will find courage, in everything I will succeed
Today I will tell someone in pain that I love them
Today I will pledge to live and to do it all again
©2016 Elera McIntosh
YESTERDAY-TODAY-TOMORROW
It can be wonderful to think back on experiences of the past years, months, days or moments, your Yesterdays. The ‘good’ ones the ‘not so good’ ones down to the ‘worst’ ones.
Your experiences provide the lessons that will help to define you, they are your guide helping to navigate you on your journey, the more painful the experiences know that the lesson for you is great.
Experiences of enjoying a nice meal, getting compliments, spending time with special friends, successes or achievements at work, or a fantastic holiday are all experiences that create wonderful feelings of health, happiness, contentment, love, confidence, power, prosperity.
There are some experiences you smile back on because you walked through them so easily, maybe you had help or maybe you just seemed to know exactly what to do.
There are ones that took some determination and you’re glad for them to be over, you’ve moved on.
Then there are experiences that haunt you every day. Maybe you have come to accept them as a part of who you are and how your life will always be, or maybe you live in hope that someday they will go away. The experiences that cause you pain, that you relive every day of your life.
There is the pain in the experience because you resist, you resist because you do not want to identify with the experience. the experience will persist and repeat itself until you identify and come to understand the meaning and the lesson.
Like a mother in childbirth, the pain will only subside when the new life is born. Surrender to the experience and stop resisting, ask yourself what could life be trying to say to you. What is the lesson? Search your feelings then let them go.
Today reflect on yesterday’s experience and it’s lessons. Look for the areas of resistance and let them go so you can move on. Don’t allow yourself to be reliving the painful experiences of yesterday again and again.
Start living the lessons.
The good feelings are easy. It is the challenges you need to pay attention to. The things that did not quite work out well, the painful ones. Ask yourself, what do you need to do differently or not at all.
Sometimes the answer to the why comes when you decide on the how. The how can take you to a new place where you find courage and strength you never realised you had in you.
The challenges are there to guide you, and the lessons will define you.
Your path is unique to you and the journey is yours alone, no one can walk it for you.
Let every day be like the first day of the rest of your life, as your experiences yesterday will have left its mark on you. It is you who will decide what that mark of change will be. Will you step forward facing and releasing some fears, doubts and achieving goals or will you remain stuck in yesterday, more confused, more doubtful more fearful?
The changes in your life can be so small that you may hardly notice, yet if you persevere the joy will come as you realise you’re feeling stronger and walking taller. Begin to look for answers, and life will bring it to you.
Like a baby you have adapted and learned and grown; you are no longer a baby but the process has not changed. One step at a time is all is needed to move forward. Some challenges have many parts, work on them one piece at a time.
Reconnect with your feelings, learn what your pain means and what it is telling you, do not hide from it.
As a child your feelings were very important to you, when you felt sad or unhappy or in pain, you cried until someone removed whatever caused you pain, then you were a happy child again. A child does not spend time wondering if that unpleasant experience will return tomorrow, they act as if nothing happened, all is well.
You have grown up and suddenly, feeling sad or lonely or hurt is frowned upon and you are considered weak and not normal to express them. You now live every day resisting in silence these painful feelings as you believe you have no one to make the pain go away.
You have become conditioned to live your life by society’s rules that do not always serve you. To believe that crying is a sign of weakness and that it is not socially acceptable to discuss your ‘problems’, this is not ok. To pretend as if you are ok serves everyone except you.
No one talks of ‘good’ Mental Health, it is only used to refer to those who have expressed or who have shown visible signs of not being able to cope with the challenges in their lives. Those who have responded in a human way by crying out, because something does not feel right.
The thing is we all have challenges in their lives, we all have some mental frailty, some weakness trying to overcome. Some have just learned how to hide it well, some for fear of being stigmatised or ostracised. Some pass it off as a new attitude so it’s considered ‘cool’ or acceptable. Some have hidden it for so long they have begun to feel like they are the ‘normal’ ones. Some skilfully project the pain they feel unto others.
The challenges are the cause of the pain and there is no shame in pain, face it and begin to look for the answers so you can smile again. Delve into the pain if you must, but never hide from it. Cry out for help if you must, someone will hear, and never apologise for being you.
Your life is your responsibility, and no one can help if you don’t want to make a change.
Remember you were not always feeling this way. if it does not feel right do everything you can to make it right again.
Your challenges are your guides, face them with a new attitude. Face them knowing you are never alone.
How are you feeling today, have you found out the lessons in yesterday’s pain?
If you have, then like a child, have no fear for tomorrow, all is well.
By: Elera
Photo courtesy of Geoffrey Whiteway and copyright Free Range Stock, www.freerangestock.com”